


Guardian Angel

by ZScalantian



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Implied/Referenced Animal Death, Matchmaker Aerith, Murder, Reincarnation, Stalker!Sephiroth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:08:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28162935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZScalantian/pseuds/ZScalantian
Summary: Aeris is given two choices when she dies; does she want to be a vengeful ghost (in which case, they can offer a whole range of courses on gliding around corners just ahead of someone, lurking malevolently until they look in your direction, weirdly petty inconsequential pranks) or an aspirational one (how to look serene and beautiful when ethereal and translucent).Aeris chooses neither.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9
Collections: 2020 FF7 Secret Santa





	1. In which Aeris is murdered

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sanctum_c](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctum_c/gifts).



> Gift for sanctum_c, since they use the name Aeris that is what I'm using here.

The thing about dying unexpectedly was that for most people it was sudden. From everything’s fine to _oh shit_ in seconds. Aeris’s death was no exception. As the owner, she was the first one at her flower shop in the morning, and the one who locked up. On her way to the home she lived in with her mother, she stopped by the little community church. After laying a bouquet of white and yellow lilies in front of the altar to the Goddess, she knelt to pray. For her family, her friends, for a past boyfriend who’d disappeared years ago, and for her new boyfriend.

Then she died.

Aeris blinked. Or at least tried. It was a strange sensation, blinking without eyelids… or eyes. Less of a blink and more of a memory of what a blink was. In the same fashion, her chest didn’t actually hurt, she only remembered it hurting where the long knife had gone into her. Realizing that she was dead, that she had just been murdered, should have caused alarm or panic or grief… Something. But she didn’t feel that way. Perhaps because she lacked adrenalin.

In the vast empty space she floated in there was no sound, no scent, nothing. It wasn’t dark but it wasn’t light either. Wasn’t there suppose to be something afterlife? Fields of flowers and missed loved ones? Not that that was what she wanted. She wasn’t happy about being dead, being murdered. She was angry.

As soon as she realized that, Aeris was no longer weightless. Falling fast, she landed with an awkward stumble in a big white room as large as a… She couldn’t quite tell how large it was, actually. The plastic panel and stucco walls had a hazy, billowy quality that she couldn’t bring into focus, like she was looking at the line of a snowy horizon, or approaching curtains of rain. A long counter at the far end was staffed by attendants or clerks of some sort, going over papers with the people queued in line before them. Some of the lines were long and serpentine, others only had one or two people standing in them.

An attendant dressed in white and holding a clipboard came over to her. “Miss? Can I get your full name?”

“Um…” She was still busy looking around. “Aeris Gainsborough.”

The attendant jotted it down. “And the manner of death?”

“Murdered” she replied, clipped and angry.

“Sorry to hear that.” The sympathy was expressed in an automatic, mindless way, and they kept writing for a long minute before handing her the clipboard. “Okay, take this form, fill it out, and hand it to the attendant in line seven.” 

As they turned away, Aeris quickly asked, “Where am I?”

They turned back to her with a smile of perfectly even politeness that said they had answered this question a million times before. “The angry-at-unexpected-death processing hall.” 

Another clipboard appeared in their hand as a few feet away another dearly departed appeared in the hall. “Line seven,” the attendant reminded her, turning to the newcomer.

Line seven was one of the longer lines, but not _the_ longest, or even second longest. Standing behind a lanky middle-aged man, Aeris looked down at the clipboard. The form was odd. Her name and manner of death had been filled in, and there was only one other question, her age. She put down twenty-two and a new question appeared. What were her spiritual beliefs?

As she filled out each question, a new one appeared until the entire page was filled. She followed the goddess Minerva. Yes, she believed in an afterlife, believed in ghosts, was not ready to move on, etc.

When she finally reached the counter after who knows how long waiting (time just didn’t feel real anymore, it could have been an hour or weeks, she didn’t know. What she did know was that it had taken way too long) Aeris handed over the form to the attendant. They scanned it quickly.

“Alright, looks like you qualify for becoming a ghost! And a fairly strong one at that, so glowing orb and strange cold spot are out. That means I’ve got two options for you. Do you want to be a vengeful ghost? In which case, we can offer a whole range of courses on gliding around corners just ahead of someone, lurking malevolently until they look in your direction, and weirdly petty and inconsequential pranks. If you take that last one, there is a secondary course for becoming a poltergeist. Or you can choose to be an aspirational spirit. There are courses on how to look serene and beautiful while ethereal and translucent.”

“Is there an option where I can visit or help my friends or family?”

“Sorry, you’re a bit too angry for that one.”

“Am I supposed to be happy that I was murdered?” she snapped.

The attendant gave her a look. “Normally calm, with witty comebacks, now snappy. You’re an angry ghost, interacting with someone is going to make you angrier. You’d end up hurting your loved ones, not helping. Not until you mellow out. And that could take anywhere from a month to a millennia.”

“But I don’t want to just look pretty, I want…” _revenge_ “justice.”

“Mumm-hum. So do most of the souls in this line. Poltergeist is the best I can offer you.”

“What about reincarnation? I know that’s in my religion. The cycle of life, death, and rebirth.”

“That doesn’t have a quick turnaround, and you’re holding on to too many earthly emotions to qualify.”

“Is there any way I can talk to my Goddess about this?”

“Deities are busy entities. I can put you on a waiting list, but you’ll probably just end up back here and you’ll have lost your spot in line and have to fill out the form all over again.”

Aeris gave a sharp smile. “Oh, I doubt that.” She had been murdered in a church of the Goddess Minerva by a follower of her enemy, the Calamity Jenova. If that didn’t qualify for divine intervention, she wasn’t sure what would.

Turns out she was right. Minerva understood her plight and desire to go back. To ensure her killer was brought to justice and that her loved ones were safe. The only caveat was that if she wanted to be human, she’d be reborn as an infant with few to no memories of her previous life, unless shock or a sustained effort caused her memory’s return. Her other option was to take over the body of an animal whose luck had just run out, with her memories intact. For a while anyway.

She would have one year where her mind would remember how to process her human memories and intellect. After that, she would retain her attitude, her likes and dislikes, her core traits, but she would forget that she had been human once.

Aeris was willing to make that sacrifice if it meant getting back to the realm of the living faster.


	2. In which Aeris is alive, again

Cold. Wet. Exhausted. These three words summed up Aeris’s return to life. Wearily, she raised her head and sniffed the air; algae, black mud, and oily pollution, but beyond that was the smell of clean air after a rain. She stood, wobbling on thin shaky legs, looking around. She found herself standing on a mound of debris in the middle of the Midgar river. 

As a river that ran through a large city in a dry area, its bottom and banks were encased in cement to prevent erosion. Normally sluggish and only a few inches deep, the rain had left it swollen. Trash floated by in the quick current, some of it snagging on her temporary island and adding to its surface area.

With a shiver, she looked down at her muddy paws. Poor thing must have drowned. She had once heard that all dogs go to heaven. She hoped that it was true and that they didn’t have to deal with any bureaucracy on the way there. Sitting down, she scratched at her neck. No collar. Good. She didn’t have to worry about finding a missing family and could focus on finding her own.

And her killer.

The first challenge would be to get out of the river. If it didn’t rain again, it would only be a day or two until the river ran itself out. However… she was hungry. A hungry dog could get into all sorts of trouble, and now, with her own stomach chewing at her spine, she understood what prompted them to do so.

With limited options, she began to bark, a high desperate yelp that bounced off the concrete walls. It didn’t take long for her to catch someone’s attention. A skinny teenager, with familiar short black hair and colorful bandages on her knees, jumped the chainlink fence at the top of the embankment.

Was that…? Her tail began to wag.

“Hey, mutt! What’re you doing in the river?” Yuffie called from where she had shimmed down to the water's edge.

Aeris barked back in return, delighted to see her friend. The girl looked up and down the river before scowling, muttering something under her breath. 

Yuffie pointed a stern finger across the turbulent water. “Stay,” she commanded. “I’m going to call for help.”

Aeris sat and waited politely, the very picture of an obedient dog, while her friend made a call. Even with her keen new ears, the distance and the noise of water kept her from hearing what was said. After four or five minutes, Yuffie turned back to her. “Alright, mutt, sit tight. Help is on the way.”

When help arrived, it was in an old pickup, faded greenish paint with patches of rust above the wheel wells. Aeris couldn’t keep herself seated any longer, but bounced to her four feet, whining, as two people stepped out and peered through the chainlink at her island. An athletic-looking woman, her black hair hanging to her thighs - Tifa, her closest friend. Beside her, a short man with messy blond hair - Cloud, Aeris’s boyfriend. Oh, he looked so tired. For the first time, she wondered how long it had been since her murder. Whether it was still fresh for them.

Upon the bank, the three seemed to be discussing how best to get her out of the river. Eventually, they tied a rope to one of the metal fence posts, then around Cloud’s waist. He entered the water further upstream, letting the current carry him towards her. When he reached her pile of debris, she immediately ran to him, whining and licking at his face. Not the most dignified greeting she’d ever given, but it felt right for her new body.

_‘Cloud! Oh, Cloud, I’m sorry, it was Sephiroth. I didn’t hear him come in and I swear I’m going to bite him next time I see him.’_

The words only can out as whimpers, but she didn’t care too much as he wrapped her up in his arms. He was warm, and she cuddled into him, feeling his chest vibrate as he murmured, “Hey there. Settle down and I’ll get you onto dry land.” He called more loudly to Tifa and Yuffie, “Alright, heading back.”

“Be careful, Cloud,” Tifa responded as she and Yuffie started to pull back on the rope.

Together they reeled Cloud and Aeris in and up the concrete bank. From there, things moved quickly. She was wrapped in a towel and dried. They checked her over for injury, finding none save for the fact that she was very thin. Her tail, plumy now that it was no longer sodden, waved on its own, and she had to fiercely resist her urge to prance around and lick their faces. She may have kept her human mind, but her new life came with a boatload of doggy instincts.

The three of them decided that Cloud would take her home while Tifa made up some found dog flyers. Yuffie waved goodbye as they drove off, Aeris sitting happily in Cloud’s lap. The old brick building they rented apartments in was exactly the same as she remembered, Tifa’s downstairs and Cloud’s on the upper story, but on entering Cloud’s rooms, Aeris was struck by the differences between it and the space in her memory. 

The furniture was still sparse and minimalistic, but it was messier, flat surfaces having become storage spaces for small untidy stacks of mail, flattened grocery bags, crumpled receipts, empty water bottles, tossed aside jackets. She could smell dirty dishes - mainly in the kitchen, but also something moldering and forgotten under the couch. There were fewer photos on the walls and no flowers at all. Only one of the many vases she had brought over remained. Made of marbled blue and green ceramic, it was the first one she’d given him, saying that it matched his eyes. It sat empty on the counter that separated the kitchen from the main room, a pink ribbon tied around its neck. Overall, the place looked, smelled, and felt depressed. 

How long…

“Hey.” 

Aeris quit inspecting the space. Cloud crouched, holding out half a sandwich. She scarfed it down, the knot in her stomach easing a little. It was cold and a little stale, meaning he’d probably pulled it out of the fridge, but she didn’t care. She went to the kitchen to see what else he might have. 

He followed her and snorted when she scratched at the fridge door. “Yeah, I know that wasn’t enough. Let me take a shower and I’ll go to the store to get you something.”

Pouting, she watched him disappear into the bathroom. Aeris flopped down with a huff beside the bed, resigning herself to eating dog food for the rest of her life. Maybe she’d get lucky, and Cloud would be as weak to literal puppy-dog eyes as he had been when she employed the metaphorical variety as a human.

She listened to the shower run and considered what to do next. She needed to find out how long she’d been gone and whether Sephiroth had been caught or if he was still at large. If he hadn’t been caught, did she want Cloud to know the truth of her murder? She knew it would hurt him to find out that his stalker was responsible for her death. He would blame himself, even though she didn’t. This was solely on Sephiroth’s shoulders.

How could she learn what she wanted while still acting like a normal dog? She didn’t want Cloud or Tifa worrying about her behavior, either now or when she lost her human memories.

Turns out she didn’t have to worry for long. Cloud took her for daily walks, systematically working through the neighborhoods upstream of where she’d been found, looking for her previous owner. A few days into this routine, they ran into Sephiroth. 

“Cloud. It’s good to see you.”

Aeris’s hackles bristled as soon as she heard the deep, smooth voice. He was downwind, so she couldn’t have smelled him coming, even if she’d somehow known his scent. Her canine instincts resented the surprise, layering that irritation over her deeper human fear and fury. He came into view, dressed all in black, his pale hair like a shroud.

She could feel Cloud’s tension in the tightening of the leash and the tautness of his voice. “What do you want, Sephiroth?”

“For now, seeing you out of that dingy apartment is enough. You can’t pretend to grieve forever, Cloud.”

“What I do is none of your business. Now move.” 

As Cloud went to push past him, Sephiroth leaned in. Aeris interrupted whatever he was going to say, however. With a sharp bark and low growl, she pushed herself between them. She’d love to bite Sephiroth but he’d probably call animal control and have her taken away if she did. 

Sephiroth stepped back to assess her, then smiled, his unnatural acid green eyes gleaming with cruelty. “Bringing another innocent into your life? With your track record, isn’t that dangerous? Or are you truly that selfish?”

It was getting harder and harder to keep herself from sinking her teeth into his calf. Before Cloud could respond, Aeris grabbed hold of her leash and pulled them down the sidewalk, away from her murderer. _You can’t say anything to him, Cloud! Every moment of your attention he gets is like red meat to him; you’ve got to ignore him._

They ran into Tifa on the way home. Tifa saw Cloud’s dark mood, guessed what caused it, and invited him to her place for a drink.

Tifa swirled her glass, frowning, then set it down emphatically on the end table by her chair. “You should really get a restraining order on that guy.”

“For what? Being creepy? He’s never actually done anything that I can prove. No evidence, no clear threats, nothing. Just…” He grimaced, taking a sip of whiskey instead of finishing the sentence.

“He’s still suspect number one, isn’t he?”

“I guess… It’s been a year. They haven’t got any fresh leads.” His voice went bleak and grey with despair.

Tifa put a hand on his arm. “Oh, Cloud, I know…” She looked down. “We all miss her.”

Rising from where she had curled herself on the floor, Aeris tried to wiggle her way onto Cloud’s lap. The chair was too narrow, though, and he pushed her off with an affronted, “Hey.”

Chuckling, Tifa bent and scratched at Aeris’s right ear. “She can sense that you’re sad.” 

He reached out too and scratched the other side. Aeris’s eyes closed in bliss. “She growled at him and dragged me away.” 

“Smart girl,” Tifa praised, then tilted her head questioningly, looking at Cloud. “Haven’t you given her a name yet?”

“She’s not mine.”

“She might be, if nobody claims her.”

His mouth twitched. “You’ve thought of one?”

Tifa smiled. “Lily.”

Aeris liked lilies, and the name was cute.

Cloud, however, frowned. “It’s a flower name.”

Aeris rolled her eyes, a decidedly un-doggy expression, but fortunately, Cloud was looking away and Tifa was looking at him, not at her. Tifa’s voice was soft, but Aeris thought she heard a faint trace of impatience in it. “It is, but it suits her.” She looked back down at Aeris, scratching her head gently. “You like the name, right, Lily?”

Aeris barked once and wagged her tail. While she’d already decided not to seem too smart, she wasn’t sure what name Cloud would give her _and_ she _liked_ the name Lily.

“See? She agrees with me.”

Knowing a lost battle when he saw one, Cloud shook his head in defeat. “Whatever.”


	3. In which Aeris is a horrible dog

Three months in and she knew Cloud needed to move on. It was nice to know he hadn’t forgotten her, but it was time he looked after himself and his apartment. She’d managed to get him to clean some of it. There was nothing under the couch anymore, and the things on the floor had been picked up after she’d chewed on them. Counter surfing made him clean up the old dishes. Digging through the dirty laundry and lying in the clean clothes he’d left on the floor forced him to do laundry and put it away properly.

She started working on his social life. They took walks on the regular, Aeris wearing a lovely pink collar she’d selected herself from a pet store, and she grabbed hold of her leash and dragged him to visit the park, local public gardens, or the outdoor seating at Seventh Heaven. They visited her mother Elmyra and his friends, but she steered them clear of the church. And whenever Sephiroth showed up, she was quick to pull Cloud away.

The last, most daunting task was Cloud’s love life. Thus Aeris took it upon herself to play matchmaker. Tifa was strong, kind, beautiful, and suspicious of Sephiroth. Aeris had been perfectly happy with Cloud, but there were forks in every life - when Cloud had introduced her to Tifa, Aeris had realized that if she’d met the bartender before meeting Cloud, she’d have asked her for a date instead. Pairing the two together seemed like a perfect plan. She knew they’d be good for each other, and she could have the love and attention of both of them. Being a dog certainly had its perks. Unfortunately, Cloud was being rather difficult about this part of Aeris’s master plan, and, to a degree, so was Tifa. 

Oh yes, she had tried the classics of tangling her leash around them, or taking something that belonged to one and giving it to the other (sometimes with the one she’d taken from in hot pursuit). In a particularly cunning ploy, she’d managed to knock them off their feet into a fountain together. Except none of it had worked. Sure, they were closer than before, but they each refused to take the final step.

One night, when Cloud was at work late and she was spending the night at Tifa’s apartment, Tifa confided in her. She ran a brush over Aeris’s silky coat and explained that yes, she wanted Cloud but she wasn’t going to push. Her eyes went forlorn and plaintive as she gazed into space. “He had a… a past love. He’s not over her. I’m not really, either.” Aeris wanted to bang her head on the wall. 

_It’s fine! I want you both to be happy! The sooner the better._ She’d had her own past love, but she’d made room in her life for new love, too.

Maybe she should break character. Maybe she _should_ have taken a poltergeist course, surely it would be easier than this. Oh! That’s what she could do! Even as a dog she could pull off some ghost-like shenanigans. Her tail began to wag. Tifa came out of her funk and smiled, patting her side.

The next day, when she was home alone, she got to work nosing open all the cupboards she could reach in the kitchen. Nothing. Aeris let out a low growl of irritation. The apartment wasn’t that big, they had to be here… Or Cloud had gotten rid of them. It was very possible. She looked up to the cupboards above the counter. Right.

It took a couple of tries but she made it onto the counter. From there, she found what she was looking for in the cupboard above the sink. Of course, that’s where the vases were. In the most inconvenient place for her purposes. Hopping down from the counter, she pushed over one of the dining chairs to make it easier to get onto the counter, then grabbed a pillow from the couch and put it in the sink. Standing on her back paws she carefully nudged a vase off the shelf. It landed on the pillow with a soft thump.

Gently she picked up the vase and set it on the counter before putting the pillow back. Next, the door. It had a lever handle, easily opened by a paw, though the deadbolt took a lot of jumping and scrabbling to undo. Shutting the door so no one would suspect anything, she trotted down a few blocks to a nice neighbor’s garden. There weren’t any lilies. A pity but she was on a time limit so instead, she chomped off a few pink gladioli and purple irises from the border before running back home. She reared on her hind legs, pulled down on the handle, and let herself back in.

She nibbled the stems as even as she could get them, spitting little green bits onto a sheet of paper towel, then depositing the wadded up sheet in the kitchen trash. Filling the vase with water and getting the flowers into it was a whole new level of challenge, but she could say with satisfaction that no one would suspect the _dog_. She checked the clock. One hour left before Cloud came home. Okay, time for the note. This was simpler at least. Using the dog treats Cloud had bought for her, she arranged them into letters, then words. Satisfied she hopped off the counter, pushed the chair back to where it was supposed to be, then curled up on the couch to wait.

Only ten minutes after she finished, Cloud unlocked the door. He saw the flowers and froze. His eyes darted around the apartment, looking for the intruder. Aeris slipped off the couch to greet him, wagging her tail and bopping his leg for attention, reassuring him that it was safe.

He patted her head, only half paying attention. “I thought dogs were supposed to keep out intruders.”

Cautiously he went to the flowers, fingers gently brushing the petals before looking at the dog-treat note. His face went pale and he immediately stepped back. 

“Aeris -” It was a ghost of a whisper, scared and heartbroken.

He sank to his knees, his fingers curled tightly in his hair. A sob leaked through his clenched teeth. “Aeris…”

She sat beside him, gently nudging his cheek with her nose. He reached out with shaking hands and hugged her, crying into her fur. On the counter, spelled out plain as day, were the words: Dilly Dally Shilly Shally Isn’t It Time You Were Happy.

The effects of the first note lasted for several days, with Cloud in a deep funk. He ignored her efforts to redirect their walks and kept them short. Otherwise, he only went out to work and came straight home, rejecting social invitations from their friends, even Tifa. Not the result she was hoping for. Her second message, accompanied by a new vase and flowers from a different garden, read: I Never Blamed You Please Be Happy.

That brought on another very bad night, but after that, he was back to being functional. A week later, she left a third message: The Flowers Say It’s Time To Let Go.

He didn’t look so haunted on finding the flowers that time, snorting and rolling his eyes instead. Definitely an improvement, and came with the bonus of letting Tifa back into his apartment. She stopped as she entered, staring at the vase, then smiling. “Where’d you get these?” Cloud simply shrugged. But their relationship didn’t make any further progress.

Aeris gave it a week and a half before leaving another note: Just Ask Her Out Already I Approve. It was about as subtle as a brick through a window, but she’d almost used up half her year and she still needed to sort out the Sephiroth problem. Unfortunately, it backfired. Instead of asking Tifa out, Cloud got suspicious that she might be the one leaving the notes. They got into a big fight over it. In the end, Tifa had angrily suggested Cloud put up a camera and he had done just that. 

Aeris sat in the kitchen, giving the camera the ol’ hairy eyeball. It was poised to watch the vase cupboard and counter. If she tried to leave another message, she would be caught. But worse, if she didn’t, Tifa would be implicated and their relationship would fall apart. Everything she’d done would be for nothing. Worse than nothing - her friends would end up hurt by her meddling.

If only she was a poltergeist. She flopped down to sulk, considering her options. Maybe she could act possessed. With not much to lose and a whole lot to gain, that’s exactly what she did. She closed her eyes, pretended to sleep, then jerked upright, rolling her eyes so the whites showed. She moved in fits and starts as though something else was controlling her. It was a good thing she’d had quite a bit of practice at this get-down-the-vase routine, or she doubted she could pull it off under these circumstances.

This time she went on a much longer walk to find some white and yellow lilies. As for the note, it was the longest she’d ever left. When Cloud got home he blanched at the message and immediately checked the camera footage. For her part, Aeris acted as if nothing was wrong. She was simply a dog excited to see her family. She even grabbed her leash, as though wanting a walk.

After reviewing the footage, Cloud looked at her with a whole range of emotions on his face. Aeris looked back innocently, deploying her very best puppy-dog eyes with her leash in her mouth. Eventually, he smiled, shaking his head.

“Okay, fine, you win. Guess I should apologize to Tifa.”

Her tail wagged as he clipped on the leash. _Finally_. 

On the counter the treats spelled out: Cloud Strife If You Do Not Move On And Ask Tifa Out I Swear I Will Find A Way To Get You Into A Dress Again.


	4. In which Aeris commits a murder

Aeris was home alone, curled on the couch, watching the last leaves fall outside. It wouldn’t be long before it started to snow, likely within the month. Cloud and Tifa were out on a date. Her mother had seen the footage of her arranging the note and flowers and was smiling more often, stating that even in death, Aeris was a busy-body. In total, all of her friends seemed to be doing better. Her new life was going well.

That’s why she was completely blindsided when Sephiroth entered the apartment. She practically teleported from the couch to the floor, her feet braced, her fur on end, her teeth showing in an angry snarl.

He didn’t seem concerned, though. One hand hung loosely at his side, the other behind his back. “Please. We both know your bark is worse than your bite.”

Oh, really? They weren’t passing on the street this time. He was on _her_ turf. If she bit him, it was his own fault. She crouched low, stalking forward, ready to attack. In response, he tossed a meatball at her feet. 

“Go on, Lily. There’s a treat for you.”

Poisoned, Aeris had no doubt. She stepped over it.

Sephiroth let out a barely audible sigh. “Must you make things difficult?”

She lunged, only to have the noose of a catchpole slip around her neck. Snarling, she flipped and fought until she lay on the floor, her sides heaving with exertion. With mock tenderness, he patted her flank. “There, there. One by one, everything he cherishes will vanish.”

He turned slightly to retrieve something from his coat pocket, then froze. She realized that he’d caught sight of the camera. Aeris’s ears perked up. He hadn’t known. With this, there would be enough for a restraining order, and possibly an arrest, breaking and entering. 

Sephiroth contemplated for a moment before standing to face the camera. “Paranoid, puppet? If you want her back unharmed, come find me.”

With that, he dragged her out of the apartment, locking the door behind them with a copied key. Aeris, despite her exhaustion, made a fuss and racket the whole way down the stairs to Sephiroth’s sleek black sports car, but no one came to her aid. He shoved her unceremoniously into the back seat, the car not having much of a trunk.

Stuck in the back, she sulked. There was no crate or restraint, so she knew that dog-napping had not been part of his original plan. But he’d evidently adjusted on the fly. Now he could lure Cloud to who-knew-where, and a dozen awful scenarios unrolled in Aeris’s mind’s eye.

He took her out of the city, up into the local mountains, probably intending to hide her away somewhere remote. He needed two hands on the swooping curves, and he let loose of the pole. Aeris stealthily worked herself out of the noose, then stared glumly out the windows. She noticed there was black ice in the shadow of the curves. She had been quiet in the backseat, and Sephiroth was paying her no attention. She shifted where she sat, and scratched at the door. He didn’t glance up into the rearview mirror, even as she made her scratching louder. Why would he? He was arrogant and thought her threat neutralized.

On the next curve, she saw headlights coming around. High up, a truck of some sort. As the vehicles drew near each other, she lunged and sunk her teeth into Sephiroth’s shoulder. 

Everything happened quickly after that. Sephiroth jerked away from her, steering into the truck. Everything shook with the impact, and the ice sent them spinning. The truck fishtailed down the road. The sports car broke through the guardrail and spun over the edge. 

Aeris had dropped again into the backseat, and she was flung around as the car rolled down the mountainside. Everything was a slamming, crashing blur until eventually, everything stopped. The roof was caved in. Pieces of glass lay everywhere and she smelled blood. She lay there for a long time, shivering in the cramped spot before she heard sirens, and then footsteps and voices outside. The sound of a saw cutting the car’s frame filled the night.

Icy artificial light began to pour into her spot. With a painful breath, she started to whine, letting the rescuers know she was there. They tore the car apart, removing Sephiroth’s body before they got to her. She was taken to a vet, where her abrasions and bruises were treated. People kept lifting her chin so they could look at the tag on her collar. 

At last, a worried Cloud and Tifa picked her up. Aeris nearly leaped into their arms, the vet tech leading her only restraining her with difficulty. Despite being banged up, she was okay to go home, although with instructions to monitor her and call if anything came up. There was also a follow up by the police a few days later, to get the video of her abduction.

Then everything was okay.

She didn’t have much longer before her mind assimilated with that of a dog’s, but she was okay with that. She knew she would still be able to look after her friends, that their biggest threat was gone, and that together, they could be happy. She had been a person once; she was a dog now, but when Minerva brought her back to life, she had agreed to become a Guardian Angel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sanctum_ c, I hope you enjoyed this story.


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